Sailing Ohana

We were excited about these islands because we skipped them last year, due to weather. We anchored off of Compass Cay where there is a short hike to a spot called “Rachel’s Bubbles”. It is a pool on the Northeast end of the island that gets big waves washing over one of the walls from the Exuma Sound. They crash into the pool and it was fun to play around in, without the worry that you’ll get washed out to sea. I didn’t bring my phone, so no photos. 😔

We pulled up next to SV Breathe, a couple that we met last year in the Bahamas. We chatted with them for a while, and they gave us some tips on where to go in the area. As we dinghyed away from them, I realized that they were the first people outside of the four of us that we had spoken to in person, in a long time. We look for kid boats everywhere we go, and this year, unlike last year, there just aren’t any near us. We have spotted a couple of kid boats but they had very young children on board. I think they are mostly south of us, or in Georgetown right now. The boys miss having real playmates. They are being such good sports about it, but they ask a few times a day if I’ve spotted any kids boats on our AIS or the NoForeignLand app. I know it adds to a feeling of homesickness for Jackson. Tommy and I just aren’t sufficient substitutes for actual kids. We remain hopeful that as we make our way south we’ll find some.

We snorkeled around the nearby rocks and a coral garden before moving to Pipe Cay. The anchorage there is right in front of the ruins of an abandoned US Navy DECCA station. We didn’t explore it because I read that it is being restored and they don’t like looky-loos on the property. Anyway it didn’t make for a nice view, but that was not a big problem since it offered good protection for the weather we had.

It was windy and cold (for the Bahamas), raining off and on, so we had a lazy day, fully utilizing our Starlink internet for movies and work.

Tommy and I took a quick trip in the dinghy to explore Pipe Creek. Pipe Creek is a network of very shallow waterways that run through Pipe Cay and depending on the tide, exposed sand bars. The little cays and coves that are formed by the water flow are spectacularly beautiful. A couple of the cays are privately owned and have lovely houses on them. We stopped at the swings on the sandbar at Little Pipe Cay to hang out and enjoy the view.